The Gentle Giant

The following is a short feature I wrote for a magazine whilst living in Singapore. I was 20, and that was back in 1993. I had since been amazed and proud how the world wide outcry of poaching had managed to protect the African elephants, our planets most noble of creatures.
I am now heart broken to hear that the rise of the Chinese market in ivory has meant that again, the poachers are killing. There is absolutely no need for this. None.

None.

It must stop.

THE GENTLE GIANT

It was over eighteen years ago, whilst the poachers in Africa were still legally hunting elephants for their ivory, when my mother took my two sisters to the zoo.  Gina, who was then three, gazed up with wonder into the eyes of an African Elephant.  "Do they bite?"  She asked.

Lisa, the all knowledgeable elder sister, then five, replied after much thought,  "Only when you pick them up."

A child's imagination stretches far beyond the bounds of reality.  They live in a dream world, learning new things every day.  But a young child would not understand the meaning of the word extinction.  Their imagination finds it difficult to understand that man can kill simply for a symbol of status - ivory.

A child would instinctively say, "As white as snow";  "As bright as the sun";  "As big as an elephant."  What will they say when all of the elephants are dead?

Contrary to popular belief,  poaching is still a big business, despite the efforts to curb the needless killing.  Ivory is still wildly available across the globe.  It is still classed as a luxury.

Most governments have ceased to import ivory, hoping it will lead to the end of poaching.  But it is not working.  The poachers of Africa still risk their lives in the hunt.

The intricate workmanship on some magnificent ivory carvings can make us all stand and gaze in awe, but the better understanding of how ivory is obtained has made us start to view these objects in a completely new light.  We can no longer admire what we have come to realise.

There is no justification for wholesale slaughter of noble animals just for us to admire a carving.

Until we all class an ivory ornament as repulsive, vulgar and unrefined, the slaughtering will continue.

An elephant is intelligent, friendly, trusting. They have feelings just like our own; joy, pride, sadness, dejection, dignity, shame, loneliness.

An elephant will bury a fellow member of the herd when it is killed. And it will morn it's death, shedding tears.

An orphan elephant would never forget watching the slaughter of its family.  It would cry out for its mother well into its adult life.

A large graceful creature - Is an elephant not scared of a mouse?

I am amazed that any rational human being would be involved in bringing about the extinction of creatures of such grandeur and might.  It makes one reflect on who exactly, is the animal.

I have no children of my own, as yet, but I could not imagine a childhood without 'effelents', as I so fondly remember them.  I know that my voice is one small voice.  But if all the small voices in the world could unite, then the resulting shout must be heeded by those who can do something about this tragedy.

To the poachers, killing is just a way of making a living.  To the elephants, it is an end to living.  And to the children it would be never knowing.

©2013 Kari Milburn